# My New Vinotemp



## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

OK all you wine coolador owners, I just joined your ranks and need some advice. What are some must haves I need to get this set up. I'm ordering 2lbs of beads and will try to hunt down some oust fans, what other things do I need to know or do. And how do I remove the decal?


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## Darrell (Aug 12, 2007)

Get some spanish cedar and make some shelves. Also, get some cigars to fill it up with. :r


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## shilala (Feb 1, 2008)

I like the cigars idea. Go with that.

That sumbitch is sweet, btw. :tu


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## Costa (Jan 26, 2008)

3/8" x 4" x 36" Spanish cedar from Woodcraft. That will make 2 shelves, as you need to cut them into (2) 15 1/8". I made 5 shelves, but that may be a little much. Cedar trays and a minimum of (2) Hygrometers. 

Oh, and take off the Vinotemp sticker...lol.

Congrats, best purchase I have made in a long time......


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## BamaDoc77 (Jan 31, 2007)

peel that vinotemp sticker off....it'll come off with a little elbow grease...I got my spanish cedar off a guy on ebay........................If you need beads, I have plenty extra if you wanna work something out. (65%)
Stewart


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

1. pull the sticker off and scrap off any goo with a razor
2. plug the drain. this seems to depend largely on the RH and Temp of where you live. I sealed the drain to avoid losing humidity.


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

My house doesn't normally get warmer than 74 degrees in the summer and stays around 70 in the winter.


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## ForestPuma (Jun 28, 2007)

Definitely plug the drain hole. I used some all weather ductape which has worked fine. I keep mine set at the highest (66 degrees) setting and this usually equates to 68-69 actually temp. If you are getting a couple of hygrometers just spring for the Organ Scientific remote model and you won't have to spend the extra money when you have to get a second Cooler after you have outgrown the first one. I am about to get my third. :tu Mark at Cigarmony has these on his site I believe and he a great person to work with.

Like most people have said get spanish cedar shelves. It is good for the smell and helps prevent some of the pooling that tends to occur.

Good luck filling it up. It won't take long. :ss


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## sailchaser (Jun 16, 2007)

Darrell said:


> Get some spanish cedar and make some shelves. Also, get some cigars to fill it up with. :r


:tpd:"Go gone Remover" and a heat gun or hair dryer for the sticker and credit card for the sticks


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## sailchaser (Jun 16, 2007)

Darrell said:


> Get some spanish cedar and make some shelves. Also, get some cigars to fill it up with. :r


:tpd:Get some GooGone and a paint single edge razor blade for the sticker and a cerdit card for the stick filling,have fun :tu


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## Jbailey (Nov 9, 2006)

Very cool! The vinos do look very cool. I really would like to get one, but I know I will need at least two. Don't have the cash or space for them. Will be making a new coolerdor soon though. Might save money for a Aristocratic by Bob.


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## IslandRick (Aug 20, 2007)

volum said:


> My house doesn't normally get warmer than 74 degrees in the summer and stays around 70 in the winter.


The room I keep mine in stays 65-70°F year around so I don't keep mine plugged in. Hope this helps. Yer gonna love the vinotemp!:tu

Rick
:cb


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## smokeyscotch (Apr 26, 2007)

Carefully scrape the sticker off with a razor blade. Windex will take off the residue. I may keep my gun cabinet a gun cabinet and get a vinotemp. Very tempting. That will also be an easier B'day hint to my wife than the box of Illusione Cg4's. Let us see a pic when you get her set up.


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## Tour De Cigar (Feb 26, 2007)

why the oust fan when the vino alreaday has fans... im just curious :tu and confgrats on your new vino...:bl


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## ForestPuma (Jun 28, 2007)

Tour De Cigar said:


> why the oust fan when the vino alreaday has fans... im just curious :tu and confgrats on your new vino...:bl


I know I use them mainly in the winter win the cooler does not come on hardly ever and therefore the fan would not either.


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

Tour De Cigar said:


> why the oust fan when the vino alreaday has fans... im just curious :tu and confgrats on your new vino...:bl


Humidity will settled at the bottom of the unit, moister is heavier than that air. The internal vino fan is for pushing cold air out, that's all. It could go days with out running. So an extra fan will help to move the humidity around. Once you get this thing packed with boxes, the air isn't going to move so good.

The other reason for my oust fan is to blow across the container that catches the condensate from the plugged drain.



Beachcougar said:


> Definitely plug the drain hole. I used some all weather ductape which has worked fine. I keep mine set at the highest (66 degrees) setting and this usually equates to 68-69 actually temp. ...


I use to be adamant about plugging the drain, but it seems their are plenty of people on here that don't plug and have no problems. I can only guess it's because their ambiant temp keeps their Vino from running alot, thus no moister is being sucked out of the air. It sounds like he will need to plug his hole.

I keep mine set to about 63, this keeps the Vino at about 66ºF.


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## Tour De Cigar (Feb 26, 2007)

well explain Jkorp and make sense, I have a 6 count vino for my wine and its set at 60 degrees and the fan turns on quite regular.. thats why I ask that question plus I forgot how pack some BOTL pack their vino... :tu


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## dwhitacre (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice!!!:tu


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

jkorp said:


> It sounds like he will need to plug his hole.


Ok so what is the best way to do this? Where exactly is the drain hole?


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

Just got my oust fans ordered and bought the media filter bags from petsmart for my 2 lbs of beads. The vino is airing out and I'll scrub it with baking soda tonight. 

Still need to plug the drain hole.

What box should I buy to christen this thing?


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## bazookajoe (Nov 2, 2006)

jkorp said:


> Humidity will settled at the bottom of the unit, moister is heavier than that air...


For the sake of this Vinotemp thread it really doesn't matter but as a point of clarification humid air rises. I've had the best success regulating the RH in my cooler with a fan at the top.


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

Got my shelves installed...now just waiting on my beads and additional hygro. What is the best way to season this thing? Bowl of distilled water with dry beads? Or 60% wet beads?

Oust fans are also on their way. I got 6 total coming, but I figure I don't need that many. You think I'd be fine with one on each shelf?


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

bazookajoe said:


> For the sake of this Vinotemp thread it really doesn't matter but as a point of clarification humid air rises. I've had the best success regulating the RH in my cooler with a fan at the top.


I know that humid air rises being lighter than dry air, but for what ever reason the humidity is higher on the bottom than at the top, always. Why, I don't know, possibly the water condenses and drops out of the air. It could also be due to the drip catch being in the bottom. For what ever reason, the bottom of my Vino is around 67 and the top around 64, and I've read many others that are the same way.


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

volum said:


> Ok so what is the best way to do this? Where exactly is the drain hole?


I bought odor free silicone at Walmart and filled the whole. Set a bg fan to blow inside the Vino for a couple hours to dry the silicone and remove any possible odor, what ever.

Then I bought some of the cheap flexible cutting boards and created a ramp off the condensate channel to divert into a container. Emtpy the container once in a while.


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## Zoomschwortz (Jul 14, 2006)

jkorp said:


> Then I bought some of the cheap flexible cutting boards and created a ramp off the condensate channel to divert into a container. Emtpy the container once in a while.


While surfing the web, I saw where another BOTL did this same thing, only the container held some of his beads.

If you think about it, most of the condensation comes from the beads in the first place and unless the humidity is too high, there would be less maintenance required.

I have also done a little searching on the web for 12 volt fans. There are tons of fans for less than $6 in many different sizes. http://www.buyextras.com/fans.html?gclid=CMaltrON3ZECFQUBiQod1H-vWg

I kinda like the idea of 2 in the upper corner blowing down and 2 more on the opposite side, on the bottom blowing up.


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

Zoomschwortz said:


> While surfing the web, I saw where another BOTL did this same thing, only the container held some of his beads.
> 
> If you think about it, most of the condensation comes from the beads in the first place and unless the humidity is too high, there would be less maintenance required.
> 
> ...


I am not using beads, as I have more PG than I can shake a stick at. So I mix my own juice and use foam. Others have tried catching the drip in a bead pan, but their results didn't seem to be good. I think the beads were getting way over saturated. But I'm sure it could be figured out with a little testing. Probably in the cooler months this will work out great, but once you hit warm weather and the Vino has to run a lot more, you'll see lots of drip. I use a coolwhip bowl to catch the condensate. In the summer there would be about an 1/8" of water in the bowl weekly. Now in the winter, there are some weeks when there is nothing in the bowl.

I like the fan idea and have been considering putting some 12v in my Vino as well. I'm going to check out that link.


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## Zoomschwortz (Jul 14, 2006)

jkorp said:


> Others have tried catching the drip in a bead pan, but their results didn't seem to be good. I think the beads were getting way over saturated. But I'm sure it could be figured out with a little testing. Probably in the cooler months this will work out great, but once you hit warm weather and the Vino has to run a lot more, you'll see lots of drip.


I have never used a wineador before, so I'm not speaking from experience and I'm only trying to understand a little more before I start mine.

It seems to me, that as long as the wineador has a good seal and the door isn't opened a lot, the humidity level should stay fairly constant and any moisture inside would be coming from the beads.

So if I get more condensation when the cooler is running and this condensation is just moisture that came from the beads, then I would think that the beads would be able to re-absorb the water that was extracted from them.

Am I missing something?

Thanks
Ken


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

Well, it's pretty much done...


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## 4thtry (Feb 24, 2008)

wow.....looking good. 

the way things are going i think i'll need one of these within a year. i'm so screwed haha

where'd you get the shelves for it?


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

4thtry said:


> wow.....looking good.
> 
> the way things are going i think i'll need one of these within a year. i'm so screwed haha
> 
> where'd you get the shelves for it?


Got the Spanish Cedar from a local hardwoods store. I cut and drilled the holes myself.


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## RPB67 (Mar 26, 2005)

Looks realy good there.

You have some great smoking ahead of you there. :tu


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

Zoomschwortz said:


> It seems to me, that as long as the wineador has a good seal and the door isn't opened a lot, the humidity level should stay fairly constant and any moisture inside would be coming from the beads.
> 
> So if I get more condensation when the cooler is running and this condensation is just moisture that came from the beads, then I would think that the beads would be able to re-absorb the water that was extracted from them.
> 
> ...


Well there is moisture in the cigars and the boxes before you even put them in. And everytime you open the door you could be adding moisture. I know this seems like it should be straight science, but it has been more like art to get it work out well.

So once you get it to a steady state, you should be good. Fact is in the winter, I have to mess with it less than the summer. I attribute this to is running more and pulling moisture. The key is go by RH in the boxes not the unit itself. When my internal drops, the box RH is still right on. Does than make any sense?


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

jkorp said:


> Well there is moisture in the cigars and the boxes before you even put them in. And everytime you open the door you could be adding moisture. I know this seems like it should be straight science, but it has been more like art to get it work out well.
> 
> So once you get it to a steady state, you should be good. Fact is in the winter, I have to mess with it less than the summer. I attribute this to is running more and pulling moisture. The key is go by RH in the boxes not the unit itself. When my internal drops, the box RH is still right on. Does than make any sense?


this thread is phenomenal!
awesome information- SO lets just say a Vegas boy was thinking about snagging one of these... would there be any new precautions that i would need to take, with the HUGE lack of humidity in the natural environment?
:ss


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## nthuzst (Dec 3, 2007)

volum you should move the "naked" sticks to the top or bottom. Some of the guys are saying the stick can be affected if they are right in front of the main mask. :2


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

nthuzst said:


> volum you should move the "naked" sticks to the top or bottom. Some of the guys are saying the stick can be affected if they are right in front of the main mask. :2


Hmmm...Ok I'll do that.


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## jkorp (Sep 27, 2007)

Guitarman-S.T- said:


> this thread is phenomenal!
> awesome information- SO lets just say a Vegas boy was thinking about snagging one of these... would there be any new precautions that i would need to take, with the HUGE lack of humidity in the natural environment?
> :ss


I personally would do the samething that I've done now. Plug the drain, and catch the condensate. I guess be aware that you're in a dry environment, so everytime you open the door you'll be letting moist air out and dry air in. Even though you have temp control, I would still try to put this in the coolest place possible, to keep it from running all the time. Don't dig a whole for it, and don't sit it in front of a sunny window either, just a nice cool to help it along.


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## CigarMonkel (Jan 7, 2008)

i think you need some cigars! how much was it? im looking at getting one instead of a cooler now when summer comes around.


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## Costa (Jan 26, 2008)

> how much was it?


Call your local target, they are still "giving them" away for $150 if they have them. Picked up my second, last week this one is for wine (for now...lol).

Target.com still says $199, but if you call, you can pick it up for $150, a BARGAIN. Do a Google search, and hit "SHOPPING", then sort low to high, cheapest I think is $309 for this model........

Good luck bud!


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## smokeyscotch (Apr 26, 2007)

Your Vinotemp turned out great! Looks like you got holding steady. I love the way you did the shelves. Looks great.

Well done, :tu


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